Metagame Churning and the Data Reaper Report

Metagame Churning and the Data Reaper Report

Article:Hayl_Storm

June 22nd, 2017 00:09 GMT

Metagame Churning and the Data Reaper Report

It's widely accepted in the community that Un'Goro has been one of the best expansions to date. Which generally translates to the metagame has been diverse and dynamic. Now while Blizzard certainly deserves credit for getting the balance right, Vicious Syndicate and their consistent data plays a big part in the churning and overall health of the metagame.

This discussion came up recently on a Magic podcast where they were debating whether or not metagame data helped or hurt a constructed environment. In MTG data is held back by the devs such that most resources can only report how the archetype's breakdown in the "winner's metagame". One of the hosts was arguing that, given more information on the format, everyone would realize what the best deck was and gravitate towards it. The other host argued in favor of more data and cited the Data Reaper Report as being healthy for the Hearthstone metagame.

Host two — reigning Pro Tour champion Gerry Thompson — claimed that the Data Reaper Report helped move the metagame by bringing decks which were quietly doing well to the forefront. On this point, and in Hearthstone especially, I agree.

The first supporting factor here is admittedly anecdotal. That said, if you ever want to play mirror matches play the Data Reaper's top deck on the day it is announced. The most dramatic example of this occurred early in Un'Goro's life cycle when Paladin was still considered to be a bottom tier class. That is, of course, until the Data Reaper Report dropped and showed that Murloc Paladin and Midrange Paladin were dominating most matchups. In the next report, Paladin had shot up in representation; but if you had laddered at all, you already knew that.

The major benefit brought by the Data Reaper Reports — beyond informing conversations — is that it keeps the metagame fresh between expansions. The increased access to information gives players a better idea of how to combat the meta and what to try next. Furthermore, the recommendations and Meta Breaker sections also stir the pot while encouraging innovation from players. In the absence of this resource, it is not impossible to imagine a world where nobody found Murloc Paladin because they remained convinced that Pirate Warrior was the best deck. For a significant metagame shift to happen, people need to know about it.

Tying into how the Data Reaper Reports propagates information is the fact that Hearthstone enables an accelerated metagame. Unlike Magic or other paper card games, Hearthstone players generally have the tools available to build multiple top decks. To briefly address any Magic players, while some players will have access to multiple decks it is less likely at the FNM-PPTQ level than it is say for a Hearthstone player around Rank 7. So in a world where the barrier to switch decks does not require trading physical cards, a metagame can be more dynamic and quickly adjust and readjust to new information and trends.

Finally though, and despite all of Vicious Syndicate's data, we do need to shout out Blizzard for making a home run of an expansion. After all, there would not be much metagame churning if the top deck every week was simply Shaman Tier.

"It's widely accepted in the community that Un'Goro has been one of the best expansions to date"If that's true i lost all my faith in the future of this game.

It is to me the most boring expansion so far.

Quest rogue and Jade mechanics are preventing so many deck archetypes from being played. Many classes can't deal with shaman evolution combo. I could go on and on but i don't want to sound like a crying baby who is never happy.

I believe Hunter and Mage power levels are in a good spot, this game would be fine if other classes could be tuned to those same levels.

On June 23 2017 17:27 Hellonslaught wrote:"It's widely accepted in the community that Un'Goro has been one of the best expansions to date"If that's true i lost all my faith in the future of this game.

All meta's have their oppressive decks. This is the most varied the meta has ever been, not to mention how unsolved it still is, months after launch. If you don't like the state of the game now, you never will.

The moment you lose confidence in yourself, is the moment the world loses it's confidence in you.

On June 23 2017 17:27 Hellonslaught wrote:"It's widely accepted in the community that Un'Goro has been one of the best expansions to date"If that's true i lost all my faith in the future of this game.

All meta's have their oppressive decks. This is the most varied the meta has ever been, not to mention how unsolved it still is, months after launch. If you don't like the state of the game now, you never will.

Well I agree this is one of if not the most diverse meta in the history of the game contrary to popular belief diverse =\= fun best example of this being dragon priest - even if dragon priest was the strongest deck of some theoretical meta priest players would still hate it because the deck is plain boring to play and play against. Quest Rouge fall into a similar catagory, even if say only 5% of your games are against them those games are so unfun they drag the overall meta enjoyment down even if they only make up a small portion of the actual games.

Well all in all even if the current meta is "diverse" I hesitate to say its actually fun though I will say its definitely better than a lot of the others.